By artificially keeping the price of electricity low and not calculating the external cost of energy generation, authorities are maintaining the myth that coal is the cheapest solution for energy production. Consequently, this excludes alternative energy sources as unaffordable. It is high time we start analyzing and calculating the cost as a whole and base our strategies on the data.
This was the essential finding and recommendation of the report published by the Institute for Social Policy Musine Kokalari: “Is Coal The Cheapest Solution?”
Visar Ymeri, Executive Director of IPS Musine Kokalari, stated that this research, among other things, emphasizes the problem that public authorities in Kosovo do not actively seek to answer the question whether we can produce electricity without coal.
“The findings of the report also reveal the need for further, more comprehensive studies, in order to calculate the real cost of coal-based power generation. The external cost should be included in every energy projection and strategy, as well as building a more holistic approach to energy system policy decisions in Kosovo. “Professionals from the health sector and representatives of the Obiliq municipality should have been involved in the process of drafting the National Energy Strategy 2022-2031”, says Marigone Drevinja, Program Director of IPS Musine Kokalari.
Mikael Skou Andersen from the Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of Aarhus in Denmark presented statistical data on air pollution in Kosovo according to the methodology of the impact-pathway approach, based on the principles of the integrated assessment model EVA (Economic Assessment of Air Pollution). “Coal-fired plants contribute to air pollution, respectively to the mortality and morbidity of the population, as evidenced in Obiliq and Pristina,” he said.
Luan Shllaku, Executive Director of the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS) for Kosovo, said that favoring coal use usually is accompanied by avoiding the issue of population density affected by pollution and water drought. “While Europe Green Deal states that by 2030 to reduce coal use by 55% and to stop completely by 2050, the state strategy of the Republic of Kosovo claims otherwise,” said Shllaku.
Read full report here (in English):